THE BIBLIOPHILE (Rituranjan)'s Reviews > The Midnight Front

An entertaining read with a dashing mix of war and dark magic. It is extremely fast paced with tons of action and gore, flavored with tension. David Mack brings a cinematic and graphic depiction of the violence in war through the story. It is very well-written with slight doses of wry cynical humour, and maintains the grim dignity of a war story.

'Midnight Front' is a book with excellent worldbuilding. Its setting is the Second World War, and, it describes the situations and circumstances with a surgical precision. The extermination of Jews in Nazi Germany, the war of Stalingrad are depicted with all its brutal grandeur and bloody detail. Mack weaves the element of Demonic magic to add adrenaline to the story. The Axis and the Allied forces are fighting the war on several fronts, and, one of the secret fronts is related to the dark and magical warfare fought in the shadows. The sorcerers called as Karcist harnesses the demons of Hell, make pacts, and wield fearsome powers trying to win their own war.

This is mainly an action oriented and event-centred book. So, there is little scope of character development. The protagonist Cade is a special prodigy who brisks through his training and gains awesome Demonic powers. He is confident and determined, but is without any complex personality and conflict which we want in a character. The master Adair is the typical Gandalf, albeit a little foul-mouthed and a sobered drunkard at times. However, Anja the Russian girl is a deeply scarred, flawed and a complex personality. She is one character I hope to read more about. The antagonist Kein also appeared pretty simple to me, despite his magical prowess and intelligence. He is opposed to science and yearns for total magical domination of the world, and this is his only motivation for his grisly acts. In contrast to him, Briet his apprentice is a complex fickle bitch. She is a character who could've made a better villainess. I would definitely love to see a confrontation between her and Anja.

David Mack has written a brilliant war story brimming with demons, angels, and dark magic, which has a thrilling taste of its own. There are a few minor twists in the midst, but, otherwise the events of the story appears quite predictable. The writing is simple and easy to read. It's not overly descriptive, neither analytical, but hovers in the midst, which best suits the purpose of the story. The historical accuracy is kept throughout, and we get to see a few figures like Eisenhower, Churchill, Stalin, Hitler, in cameos. Also, the major attacks like in France Pont De Huc, Dresden, Stalingrad are done with excruciating details. Especially, the killing of the Jews will fuel your hatred towards the fucking Nazis and Hitler. The explosions, the gunshots, and the bloodshed will haunt the reader for days after reading this book.

I greatly enjoyed reading 'Midnight Front', and I finished it in just two daus which says a nice deal about the book. It isn't something extraordinary, but, rather a book which you can breeze away. As the setting of this novel was the 2nd World War, I think the next one will be set during the Cold War era which would be even more interesting. I'm eager to see what David Mack does in the sequel 'The Iron Codex'.